I don't think of these so much as switches; I think of them more as special servers for managing wireless access points. With that in mind, the firmwares must be frequently updated for new access point models, wireless standards, and adjustments for specific (often cheap) end-user device types that don't always follow the 802.11 specs as closely as they should (a lot of those cheap android phones have really crappy wifi implementations).

Those updates costs money to develop. Symbol=>Motorola=>Zebra=>Extreme have funded that by only offering new firmware to those with a support contract. You might get lucky and have a device with a serial number still under support somewhere. You can create an account with extreme and register your equipment: